I first met the extraordinary Dana Gioia in 2007. Since that time, I have had the great fortune of setting several of his poems. It is pure joy to work with Dana and his words, because his poems contain their own music — my job as a composer is merely to discover that music, and write it down. (It came as no surprise when Dana told me that he himself studied music composition.)

The Country Wife represents both a departure and a watershed in my development as a composer. It is by far the most economical — some might say relentlessly repetitive — music I’ve ever written. But the obsessive goings-over of the music, and the remorseless unfolding of so much of the text, befits and accentuates the mindset of the protagonist in her quest for release. At least, I certainly hope that’s the case.